It’s Halloween, do you know where your zombie is?

As I was waffling about what song to offer you this month – something new that I’d need to bring to life, or something old that’s dressed in cobwebs – I was thinking about all the spooky Halloween-type songs of the rock era and kept coming back to this one: Zombie Love by the Jazz Butcher.

There are two great versions of this tune on vinyl (one on Bath of Bacon, the other on The Gift of Music), and they’re quite different in tone and execution. The latter version seems recorded live in the studio and has all the great fire of a live Butcher performance, while the former is darker and more swampy. There’s lots of great guitar interplay on both versions, the kind of guitar interactions inspired by Television and the Velvet Underground, where chance and improvisation are allowed a turn at the wheel, steering the song over a hill of repetition and into unexpected diversions of dissonance and delight. I love that stuff.

Yesterday I set out to make my own little version of the song as a nod to Halloween, choosing the earlier version as my template (truly, I copied it to the best of my meager abilities). I hope you enjoy it, and that it sets your bones a-dancin’ under the bright zombie moon….

The song was written by Pat Fish. The photo was taken by Andrew Braithwaite.

The Latest Single, Still Available!

Perhaps there’s no better time for a sacrilege than Halloween.

As the end of this month was drawing nigh and I was finally finding some time to work on this month’s song, I decided to do something in the frightful orange spirit of this holiday. I’ve been catching up on the first season of True Blood (having abandoned it last year as too not for me after watching the first episode…vampires don’t socialize with humans, after all), and I’m enjoying it now. I somehow got sucked in – if you’ll allow me to stick my neck out and say that – for the second season and so had to go back and find out the things I’d missed. Netflix to the rescue.

Well, two days ago I was driving around listening to the Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and an idea hit me. I hit it back, because there was no way I was going to take one of Lou’s songs and bastardize it into a tune about a TV vampire. I’m not Weird Al Yankovic you know. For better or worse, I’m not Joe Louis either so I succumbed to the idea’s punches and have carved out this hopefully enjoyable quick, rough and nasty for you. Happy Halloween!

Here’s the original for you:

LONESOME VAMPIRE BILL

Lonesome Vampire Bill cries the blood red tears
Lonesome Vampire Bill, you’ve got to see him
Face your darkest fears

Lonesome Vampire Bill cries the tears so red
Ever since the Rebels fell, cries the tears so red
Drinkin’ True yeah, suckin’ Sook
You gotta see him go
And all those fang-bangin’ girls
Well they just don’t know

Lonesome Vampire Bill cries the blood red tears
Lonesome Vampire Bill, you’ve got to see him
Face your darkest fears

Oh, Lonesome Vampire Bill still cries the tears so red
Up around Merlotte’s Bar she can’t see inside his head
Sometimes even Shreveport, down by Fangtasia
And all those fang-bangin’ girls
Oh well they still just don’t know

Lonesome Vampire Bill cries the blood red tears
Lonesome Vampire Bill, you’ve got to see him
Face your darkest fears

You’ve got to see him when he looks at her
In the evening and she’s in distress
You got to see all the people scream and shout
They call him
Lonesome Vampire Bill
Lonesome Vampire Bill
He goes, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgh!”

Lonesome Vampire Bill cries the blood red tears
Lonesome Vampire Bill, you’ve got to see him
Face your darkest fears

Be sure to Subscribe so you don’t miss anything, yeah?